We're off tomorrow for a few days in central Europe with a church group. Will be visiting Munich, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Oberammergau, back on the 22nd. Y'all have fun, be nice, no crotch-kickin', eyeball gougin', kneecap-bustin' without me. Daughter and SIL will house-sit for us and have given 'em keys to the goodies. Prost!

Greetings from the Czech Republic. And many thanks for the good wishes.

Haven't had any wines so far, just a fair amount of Urquelle Pils, the original Pilsner, a fantabulous brew! Visited Prague Cathedral today, a truly magnificent place! Toured the whole city but the Cathedral was the highlight - the first part of it built in the 9th century. My words can't describe it. Would love to have spent much more time there.

Basically a tongue-twister, it translates roughly to:
Today Hans is coming to me
(of which) Lisa is glad.
But if he comes by (way of) Oberammergau
or by Unterammergau
or doesn't come at all
is not certain.

We're now in Budapest..... will plunder these environs for a couple of days, then to Vienna then back to Munich.

Not much for wines so far.... an unremarkable Riesling night before last, and an even less remarkable red. Did have a nice Becherovka, though, an herbal liqeur - a bit like schnapps. Last night, here in Budapest, we had an Hungarian red, much like a Merlot.... not bad at all. But the Urquelle Pils just can't be beat!

My grandmother (Mother's side) came here from Plzen, Bohemia (pre-Czech). She grew up a few blocks from PlzeÃ²skÃ½ Prazdroj, the brewery that makes Pilsner Urquell (the German translation of the Czech name).

We're back! Too short a trip. Still consider St Vitas Cathedral on the grounds of Prague Castle to be a highlight. But in Vienna, we had tickets to a performance by the Salon Orchestra in the concert hall where Strauss performed.... incredible! Strauss & Mozart for an hour and a half with a Champagne break, performed by first class pros, with a ballet duo and an opera duo. The duration seemed more like 15 minutes. At Oberammergau, we attended this season's 6th performance of the Passion Play; hard to believe those folks were all amateurs and residents of the village! Magnificent! I had heard it would be very long, but it was only five hours - 2 1/2, then a three-hour break for supper, then another 2 1/2. Got back to the B&B about 11 PM. Well worth the trip. Left the B&B at 5 the next morning on the tour bus for the ride to the Munich airport. Rain every day, windy, temps in the 40's, with low clouds frequently obscuring the mountain peaks and drifting across Schloss Neuschwanstein, but still beautiful. We had D's two sisters with us and neither had ever been to Europe, so they really enjoyed it (as did we, some 35 years after visiting the Alps and its castles for the first time as newlyweds).

The only wine that we really enjoyed was the Champagne at the Vienna concert; that was the real stuff, although couldn't get close enough to the servers to see the label. All other sparklers we had on the trip were sekt - bummer. Only had a couple of glasses of reds and regretted not having beer instead - no idea of their names but both were entirely forgettable.

Will add one more note about this trip and then shut up, unless someone has a question.

Our group of 22 was joined by another group of 13 from East Texas. Within that group was an elderly gentleman, a "Dr. Ben". We arrived in Munich and met our Czech tour guide, a middle-aged lady who was to stay with us for the entire visit. As we travelled by tour bus from Munich into the Czech Republic, Dr. Ben remarked to the guide how pleased he was to again be visiting her country. She asked, "So you have been in Czech Republic before?" He replied, "Oh yes, but on that trip I crossed your border on top of a tank in General Patton's Third Army." Our guide freaked out! "You were in the liberation force!" "Yes", he replied. "We had outrun our supply lines and arrived hungry, and the Czech people welcomed us and fed us and gave us wine and beer and celebrated our arrival as though it was New Year's Eve." "Oh, thank you, thank you for giving us liberty!" she cried.

Dr. Ben returned home, resumed his studies and earned a PhD in chemistry, which he taught at the university level for 37 years.
Quite a fellow and it was an honor to spend some time with him.

Sounds like a great trip, Gil. Those are the stories that should be taught/shared in schools across the country as history lessons, rather than portrayal of us as imperialistic dogs. Reminds me of my dad relating stories of his tank corps days in France during WWII.